As the daughter of a Middle Eastern diplomat, Magda Al Sharef travelled regularly as a child, but she considers London her home. Born in the UK, she returned repeatedly, and now lives in the capital city with her husband and three children.
“It’s called Great Britain because all of us live in one island,” she said. She admires “the unity, the quality, the strength, the standards, our law”. “So we have to be happy and positive because we are living in a beautiful country,” she said.
It is a far cry from her childhood, when her family travelled extensively, mostly between Saudi Arabia and Libya, where her parents are from.
Her father had a good job in Libya, working for the government, until Muammar Qaddafi came to power. He started his own business after that, running a successful construction and manufacturing chain.
“We had our own farm, we had horses, we travelled a lot. It was a really good time,” says Ms Al Sharef. “When he had a Mercedes, he had three colours of the same model.”
Her family provided the inspiration for her career as a dentist, with her parents modelling healthy lifestyles. “I was always copying my older brothers, sisters and mum and dad. They didn’t eat sugar and they loved a healthy lifestyle. So that started with me from day one,” she said.
Her mother would give them a treat once a week, every Friday – a small handful of sweets. “We used to get excited about it, not for the sugar. Just for the moment,” she said.
“She would come and gather us all and put her hand in her bag and say 'here is one for you, here is one for you'. And we looked at each other to see what we got. My dad used to bring them from outside Libya. He got them from France, or from the UK. That reminded us of when we were on holiday.”
Her own three children are allowed a little sugar – although never lollipops, gummies or any hard sweets. Ice cream is OK, as are biscuits with fruit and chocolate as an occasional treat.
Juggling her busy job and being a mother of three is not easy. Ms Al Sharef has a nanny, and the children can stay at school up until 6.15pm, which helps.
However, she says it can be hard to move between work and her home life. “Sometimes in the middle of my holiday I think: what am I doing here? I am not doing something for someone else,” she said. “I find it hard to switch … I love routine.”
Ms Al Sharef does not remember wanting to be anything other than a dentist, an ambition her father encouraged. “He said when you open your clinic or people come to you, you can’t pick and choose. So you have to be able to accommodate everyone and serve everyone to their level and expectation,” she said. “I took that message and it does work. I talk to my patients the way they like to be talked to.”
She specialises in aesthetic, restorative dentistry, dental implants and Botox. But she generally does not like to work on anyone under the age of 30 because they do not need it, she said. “It’s not about changing your look and having big lips or a small nose, big cheeks. That’s not beauty,” she added.
“Beauty is about who you are. How you are created. Everyone has a proportion in their face. If we touch any area without planning it will always look noticeable [that] we have done something.”
Ms Al Sharef trained to be a dentist in the UK, due to the reputation of British universities. When she graduated in 2006, there was a shortage of NHS dentists and she was offered a job straight away, working first in Sheffield and Derby and later in Nottingham.
As an adult, she has also lived in Germany, Switzerland and New York, where she studied for her master's degree – but she has always returned to the UK.
“All of my children were born in New York. I love it as a city, but the quality is higher here. Shopping-wise, food-wise we are more healthy and have better standards,” she said. “I feel the UK is my home because I was born here. So there is some sort of connection between me and London.”
Everton 1 Stoke City 0
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'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Like a Fading Shadow
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
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Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What you as a drone operator need to know
A permit and licence is required to fly a drone legally in Dubai.
Sanad Academy is the United Arab Emirate’s first RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) training and certification specialists endorsed by the Dubai Civil Aviation authority.
It is responsible to train, test and certify drone operators and drones in UAE with DCAA Endorsement.
“We are teaching people how to fly in accordance with the laws of the UAE,” said Ahmad Al Hamadi, a trainer at Sanad.
“We can show how the aircraft work and how they are operated. They are relatively easy to use, but they need responsible pilots.
“Pilots have to be mature. They are given a map of where they can and can’t fly in the UAE and we make these points clear in the lectures we give.
“You cannot fly a drone without registration under any circumstances.”
Larger drones are harder to fly, and have a different response to location control. There are no brakes in the air, so the larger drones have more power.
The Sanad Academy has a designated area to fly off the Al Ain Road near Skydive Dubai to show pilots how to fly responsibly.
“As UAS technology becomes mainstream, it is important to build wider awareness on how to integrate it into commerce and our personal lives,” said Major General Abdulla Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief, Dubai Police.
“Operators must undergo proper training and certification to ensure safety and compliance.
“Dubai’s airspace will undoubtedly experience increased traffic as UAS innovations become commonplace, the Forum allows commercial users to learn of best practice applications to implement UAS safely and legally, while benefitting a whole range of industries.”
